Back in Control
by Sugar Angel
Summary: What if the answer to Rogue's little "power prob" was in the mansion the whole time?


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BACK IN CONTROL  
  
1 BY: Sugar Angel  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the X-men, but I do own Ateş (pronounced ah-tesh), Electra, and Tori. Electra and Tori are based on my best friends here where I live, so you can't say I stole them from anything. I don't own "Torn," Natalie Imbruglia does. Lessee, "Merhaba" is the Turkish word for Hello, Acili (ah-ja-luh) means spicy, and kebap is what u think it is. No I am not Turkish; I am an American Military kid and only know a little of the language. Please don't sue me because my folk's control my allowance and they'd be down right pissed if they found out I was sued and there was a way to get around it. On the other hand, if Marvel wants to give me money for my storyline, I will accept it (wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more, say no more) as long u give me proper accreditation. (See I do know big words!) Please, give me FEEDBACK.  
  
GENERAL JIST: what happens when the X-men find out they had the answer to Rogue's problem all the time?  
  
Jean knew how Rogue had been. Ever since Rogue had first kissed Remy, she had been slipping into a deeper funk. Gambit's trial had pushed her over the edge. Now Rogue just sat in her room, not talking to anyone, barely eating, and only coming out for missions and her classes. Everyone was worried about her. Gambit had even taken to pacing some days. There was now a worn out spot of carpet in the den. Rogue wouldn't even speak to Joseph.  
  
One day, while cleaning out the storeroom in the library, Jean found a small box, tucked away in the corner. Opening it, she found a CD with the words "Power Failure: Modules 1, 2, &3" written on it in Dr. McCoy's handwriting. After some more searching she found another CD with the same writing on it, just different modules. And she kept finding more. After about an hour's cleaning, Jean had found fifteen different disks, totaling seventy or more lessons.  
  
Jean sat in the middle of the storeroom, the pile of Power Failure CD's to the left and the rest of the mess on the right, just thinking back to where the program might have come from. She had no record of Hank ever putting anything in the storeroom for safekeeping. Especially not in a hidden spot.  
  
"If there is anyone who would know about these, it's Hank himself." Jean said out loud.  
  
She carefully picked her way down the cement stairs to the basement that Beast used as his private laboratory. She was not surprised to find him hunched over a counter fiddling with acids. Jean tiptoed over to the other side of the counter. She waited until he had acknowledged her presence, then she laid her elbows on the counter and leaned forward.  
  
"How are things today, Jean?" Beast said, not even looking up from the test tubes he was holding in his hands.  
  
Jean whipped the CD she had brought with her, the first of the fifteen she hand found, from behind her back. "Can you explain this to me, Hank?"  
  
Hank patiently set the chemicals down and looked over his glasses. Taking the disk from Jean, he turned it over and over in his hands, presumably examining it for any clues. Suddenly, he pushed back his stool and dashed over to the computer on the other side of the lab. He stuck the CD into the hard drive and typed some sort of special code.  
  
Then the screen came up with a jumble of letters, symbols, and whatnot. Hank pressed some keys on the keyboard and it came out concisely.  
  
"Oh my stars and garters…" Hank muttered.  
  
"What is it, Hank?" Jean asked, going from where she was standing to next to him in front of the computer.  
  
"This is the program that you and I produced to aid in the physical and mental development of the younger genus of the Homo-superior race and will also discover what level of power the young mutant possesses. While it may also work on homo-sapiens, the effect is only minor and can only uncover the mutant gene in order to force the mutation to surface earlier in life. However, it can cause a mutation to happen and has since been terminated." He said, scrolling through the material.  
  
"I lost you at power." Jean said, looking just totally confused.  
  
* * *  
  
Jean ran into her husband on the way to Rogue's room. She loved the way he looked in his uniform. She didn't know what she would have done with her life if it hadn't been for him. She kissed him goodbye, and a shiver ran through her body, like every time they touched. As she turned onto Rogue's corridor, she had an idle thought, 'No one with as much to give as Rogue does should be deprived of the feeling of being touched lovingly. I hope this works.'  
  
Jean opened Rogue's door and found her passed out on the floor while listening to "Torn" by Natalie Imbruglia. She had an open bottle of sleeping pills on the floor near her hand. Jean rushed to her side. Rogue mumbled something under her breath.  
  
"No Remy, Don't leave me alone. I didn't mean to hurt you." She trailed off, "I love you…"  
  
So she did still love him! Jean knew Rogue had broken up with Joseph, but not why. Jean gently tapped Rogue's cheeks with her fingertips to wake her up.  
  
"Did you take any?" Jean asked, shaking the bottle at her.  
  
"The dosage. Would ya mind lowerin' ya voice?" Rogue said. She grabbed her head painfully. Jean helped her up to the bed.  
  
"I know you still love Remy." She said.  
  
"How do ya know?" Rogue said, backing up.  
  
"You were talking in your sleep. You know, I can help you."  
  
"REALLY? How?"  
  
"I can teach you."  
  
Rogue grabbed Jean's arm so suddenly that Jean nearly fell back. "Please help me, Jean. Ah wanna touch him, but Ah just cain't." Tears welled up in the teenager's bloodshot eyes.  
  
"I know, Rogue. Under one condition."  
  
"Anything."  
  
"You have to promise me that no matter how much you're dying to tell him, you won't. Not until I say you are ready."  
  
"Cross mah heart an' hope t' die."  
  
"Okay then. Get your gear on and meet me in the Danger Room."  
  
It only took Rogue a couple of seconds to put on her combat uniform. Then she hurried to the Danger Room. Jean hadn't even set up the program yet when Rogue arrived.  
  
"Computer, Power Failure Module 1." Jean said to a panel by the door.  
  
"Powah Failyah?" Rogue asked.  
  
"It's a program that Beast and I developed to help mutants discover their power level. It's been in storage for about 7 years. I just came across it a couple days ago when I was organizing the library."  
  
"But Jean if it's used ta help mu'ants discovah their powah level, then how in the heck is it gonna help me control mah powah?"  
  
"I was getting to that part. You see," Jean explained. "Beast programmed it to not only discover a power level, but to also train the subject to have just the right amount of control over their mutation."  
  
"Okay." Rogue said slowly.  
  
"Well, now that that's settled, let's get to work."  
  
Jean pressed a button on the control panel and they were suddenly on an airplane. Seated around them were people who didn't even appear to notice the two X-men. Suddenly, a little light turned on and a voice boomed from the intercom. "We are hijacking this aircraft. As long as no one does anything funny, only a couple of people will get hurt. Got that?" Then two men with pantyhose over their heads walked out of the cockpit.  
  
"The object of this lesson is to not let the men hurt anybody. You have to do this by not hurting them either. The more you care about the passengers the more chance you'll have of accomplishing this. There may be some assholes but you got to hang in there."  
  
Rogue and Jean worked on the "Power Failure" project almost every day. At first, progress was slow. But as days turned into weeks, they were finishing almost three lessons every five days as Rogue's ardor to have control grew. Rogue didn't know how it was working, but every day she could feel a new power surge through her.  
  
After a couple of weeks, Beast called Rogue down to his lab to take the tests needed in order to update her file. He took blood, looked in her eyes, and checked her blood pressure, among other things. Once the tests were administered, Beast told Jean to come back in a week for the results.  
  
During the following week, Jean and Rogue worked harder than ever on her training. That way, Rogue could have a day off on Friday, when Jean got the results from Hank.  
  
Rogue and Gambit had recently made up, and on that Friday, Jean watched them ride to a restaurant in town on the back of Gambit's Harley. She then retreated from the window and headed for the basement.  
  
"You ready Hank?" Jean looked up at the ceiling to see her furry teammate suspended from the pipes by his toes.  
  
"Yes, I believe I am, Mrs. Summers." Hank flipped to the floor. "And how might you be doing on this lustrous Friday morning?"  
  
Jean smiled, "I'm fine. Did you find anything?"  
  
"No, not at all. She is perfectly healthy, and is progressing nicely. Oh my. Hold on a second." He paused.  
  
"What is it Hank?" Jean asked, an obvious look of concern on her face.  
  
"It appears our resident Mississippi Mudpie is developing a new power."  
  
"Really?" Jean's eyes widened considerably.  
  
"She seems to now have a weak telepathic power. I think it might have come from Ms. Marvel's so-called sixth sense. She has to use more of her psyche to control her powers; therefore, it has surfaced and become greater."  
  
"Should I tell her?"  
  
"No. It would just take her mind off of her training, and then where would we be? Just wait until you are over with it."  
  
* * *  
  
Rogue held on tight as Remy turned a corner sharply on his Harley Davidson. She was itching to touch him, but sustained the temptation remembering her promise to Jean. She closed her eyes and just marveled in the way the wind felt blowing through her hair.  
  
Remy was taking her to a restaurant called "The Moonlight". They sold food from The Middle East but mostly from the Turkish region. Rogue had heard about it from one of her friends and Gambit had agreed that it would be a nice change from American food.  
  
Gambit suddenly cut the engine. He climbed off the bike and helped Rogue to do the same. The restaurant was nestled in between a flower-shop and a tailoring store that Gambit usually went to get new dusters made or have his ones fixed after a fierce battle. Rogue could see the mall down the street, so she was familiar with the area.  
  
They walked up a flight of very steep, carpeted stairs to a landing. There they were ushered to a table and given menus. The waiter greeted them.  
  
"Merhaba! I am Ateş and I will be your waiter. What would you like to drink?" He sounded like he was from the Mid-East and he had the looks to match.  
  
Gambit looked at Rogue and she nodded. They knew each other so well that they didn't even need to speak in order to know what the other was thinking.  
  
"Sprite an' a orange soda." Gambit told the waiter. Ateş walked away.  
  
After he left, Rogue just let herself get lost in the beautiful artwork on the restaurant walls, and began to think back three weeks when she and Gambit had made up.  
  
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^  
  
She was having a nightmare. It was the same one she had been having when Jean had woken her up and admitted that she knew how to cure Rogue. In it, Every X-man, except Rogue, was dying: one by one. The last to go was Gambit. He grabbed Rogue's arm and half gasped half said, "I'll never let you go." Then he turned into a pile of dust and was swept away on the breeze.  
  
She had woken up from that dream in a cold sweat, crying. That dream had never affected her that bad before. She sat in bed for awhile, just thinking. Then she slipped her feet into her bunny slippers, pulled on her robe, and walked to Gambit's door.  
  
She opened the door and looked in. Inside, Remy was asleep in front of his computer. He was wearing a pair of black satin sleeping pants that Rogue had given him. Over them, he was wearing a huge bathrobe. Like usual, he was shirtless. Rogue, who couldn't stand seeing him looking so peaceful without her, fell to knees and began to cry.  
  
Hearing her sobs, Gambit woke up. He saw Rogue collapsed on his Oriental rug and went to sit beside her.  
  
"Oh, Cheri." Gambit put an arm around her.  
  
But she shrugged him off, "Don' touch me. Ah cain't have ya."  
  
"Why not, Chere?" he asked.  
  
She looked up, surprised, "Ya mean ya're not mad at me?"  
  
"Where could ya ever get an idea like dat?"  
  
She began to get mad, "Ah took ya powahs an' left ya. Ah left ya fer Joseph. Why wou'n' you be mad?"  
  
Gambit let out a little laugh and started to dry Rogue's face off with the edge of his robe. "How could I ever git mad atcha? I mean, I still came back din'n I? I love ya, girl. Nuttin' ever gonna change dat."  
  
"Oh, Remy!" She cried and flung herself into his arms, careful not to touch his skin with her own. "Ah luv ya, too."  
  
"Chere….Rogue." Wait that wasn't parta it. Rogue thought. She then looked up and noticed Gambit looking at her. That snapped her back into reality.  
  
"Huh?" She asked.  
  
"I said, 'Have ya picked out what ya wan' yet?" He repeated.  
  
"One more minute Remy."  
  
* * *  
  
"BOBBY!" Betsy yelled, her psi knife poised and ready to strike.  
  
Bobby Drake ran down the hallway. Finally, he came to the dorm that he and Sam shared, #102. He accidentally went into the one next to it, but seeing the room filled with the belongings of a new recruit that hadn't arrived yet, girly things, he quickly headed for the room next door. The rooms were set up like the rooms in a hotel Bobby had been to once. Sam had one room all to himself, and so did Bobby; they were connected by the bathroom.  
  
When he opened the door, Sam looked up from the book he was reading, surprised. He really didn't expect his best friend and roommate to be getting into trouble that early on a Friday.  
  
"HIDE ME!" Bobby yelled hysterically.  
  
"Who ya runnin' from?" Sam asked.  
  
"I'll give ya a hint. Does 'Psycho Bitch from Hell' light any lightbulbs?"  
  
"Bobby, if ya in with Emma…"  
  
"Not Emma! The other one."  
  
"Betsy!?" Sam whistled, "Nuttin' Ah kin do for ya bud. Cain't hide from a tel'path on a rampage. The way Ah see it: ya're dead if ya do an' ya dead if ya don't."  
  
"Well that's the way I see it, too. So, please?" Bobby gave him the puppy-dog look. Bobby was beginning to regret ever leaving the room he had originally gone into. At least then, he wouldn't have to explain to anybody about what he did, even if he was proud of his most recent heist.  
  
"Fahne. Get undah the bed."  
  
Bobby dove under the bed just as Betsy knocked. She opened the door without waiting for an answer.  
  
"Where is he?" She cried.  
  
"Where who?" Sam asked.  
  
"You know who. Where's Bobby?!"  
  
"Aven't seen 'im."  
  
"I swear, Cannonball, if you are lying to me, you shall share his fate." She made a slicing motion across her throat with her psi knife and left.  
  
Sam hurriedly shut the door behind her.  
  
"Bobby, wadya do?!" Sam said as Bobby crawled out of under the bed.  
  
"I froze her bra while she was still wearing it." Then his smile turned into pained grimace, "How was I suposta know that she was wearing a water bra?"  
  
"Well, ya def'nitly proved me wrong." Sam answered in between laughs.  
  
"About what?"  
  
"That ya cain't hide from a telepath."  
  
"She was too ticked to remember to use her powers."  
  
"Well, she def'nitly wasn't too ticked ta threaten me with that knife a' hers."  
  
"Oh, yeah."  
  
"Hey didja hear 'bout the new kid?" Sam asked Bobby, taking a sip from the Sprite can on the nightstand. "Ya know, th' one that's supozda be livin' nex' door?"  
  
"What about her?" Bobby sat down on his bed right next to Sam's.  
  
"The school got a call from her parents in South D'kota. They asked how their daughter, was doing. Scott told them that she nevah got heah. The weird thang is, her parents sent her off two weeks ago. After th' fourth a July."  
  
"Dang, she's been missing for two weeks? What part of South Dakota is she from?"  
  
"Sturgis, Ah think. Why?" Sam put his bookmark in his book and stuck it in the top drawer of the nightstand.  
  
"Sturgis is where all the hot biker chicks are at! Maybe she's one o' them? Wouldn't that be just perfect?"  
  
"Bobby leave her alone. Anyways, she's supozda be an Alpha level psychic. She could fry ya brain 'fore ya kin say 'Jus' kiddin'."  
  
"Yeah, Whatever." Bobby scoffed.  
  
"Well Bobby, one a these days, a tel'path is gonna come ta Mu'ant High that cha cain't trick. An' she jus' might be th' one."  
  
"Yeah, and monkeys might fly outta my butt." Bobby gave a little snort. "You bored?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Let's go outside."  
  
"'Kay."  
  
They walked out of the mansion, careful not to run into Betsy or any of her allies. They found their favorite oak tree in the school's quad and sat down. They began to work on their Math when Sam noticed a tall girl with short reddish-brown hair leave a slightly shorter girl standing at the bulletin board, and casually walk up: in other words Bobby's girlfriend, Tori. Her casual visage changed as Tori's hands made fists and her eyes narrowed.  
  
"Bobby, you missed our date last night! I can't believe you!" Tori sobbed crossing her arms tightly over the Girl Star tee she was wearing.  
  
Bobby got up from his place in front of the tree and walked over to where she was standing. "C'mon, babe. I had official X-men business to attend to. I'll make it up to you."  
  
Then turning to Sam, "Hey, ya wanna go to out to dinner tonight with me and Tor?"  
  
Sam leaned a little to the left to see what Tori's reaction was. She was furiously waving her hands back and forth and mouthing "no". Seeing Sam's movement, Bobby turned to see what he was looking at. Tori immediately clasped her hands behind her back and began to whistle a tune, trying, very poorly, to look innocent.  
  
Sam smiled and said, "No. Ah don' think so."  
  
"C'mon, Sam. You can bring Lauri." Bobby said in a sing-song tone.  
  
"She is not mah girlfriend! Ah broke up with her a month ago!"  
  
"Don't worry Sam. One day you'll find the right girl. And even if ya don't…" Tori trailed off, smiling and exchanging a not-so secret glance with Bobby. Sam knew what was coming next. Together with Bobby, Tori said, "THERE'S STILL LAURI!" Then the two doubled over in laughter.  
  
"Wuz so funny?" Tori's friend from the bulletin board, Electra, said coming up behind them. She had been born a witch, so she used every possible opportunity to dress in baggy, black clothes. She was also Tori's best friend.  
  
"It's nothing." Tori said and then turned to Bobby, "Don't forget our date this time. Me and 'Lectra are going to the mall . See ya later." She then raised her hands dramatically above her head and used her mutant power, teleportation, to take her and Electra to the garage. The only sign that they had even been there was a flash of green light.  
  
"They really look alike with Electra's hair blowdrahed." Sam said, as Bobby sat back down.  
  
"I know." Bobby twisted up his mouth, "It's sorta freaky, too. But what  
  
Tori said is true. There is a girl out there for you, ya know."  
  
"Ah sure hope so." Sam said.  
  
* * *  
  
That night, when Rogue went to bed, she thanked God for letting her have control over her powers. She also promised Him that she would tell Jean her most personal secret, once she finished her training.  
  
Rogue could still taste the shrimp tava she had had for lunch. It had been a mixture of tomatoes, shrimp, peppers, cheese, and spices. Remy had ordered Adana kebap with yogurt. Ateş had said something like, "acili" which he then explained was Turkish for spicy.  
  
Rogue fell asleep with the thought that in a couple of weeks, her life would be perfect.  
  
"Ah kin hardly wait." Was her last thought before she fell into a deep slumber. 


End file.
